Cuckoo's Nest Endorsement (updated with video)

Randle P. McMurphy endorses Nurse Ratched. That is, the actor who played McMurphy in the movie One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Jack Nicholson, has endorsed Hillary Clinton, who often has been compared to Nurse Ratched, McMurphy's nemesis in that movie and the original book by Ken Kesey.

During the December 4 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews asked about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY): "So does her attack on him [Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)] for having had ambition as a teeny-bopper -- not a teeny-bopper, a kindergartner, does she look like Nurse Ratched here?"

A Media Matters for America Nexis search found that hosts, including Matthews, and guests of programs on NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC have a long history of associating Clinton with Kesey's fictional character, whom Cliff's Notes describes as a "scheming, manipulative agent" who "asserts arbitrary control simply because she can."

Indeed, during the August 9 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, host Tucker Carlson said, "I think we have a picture, actually, of Hillary Clinton in a nursing outfit we're going to put up on the screen in a second." MSNBC then aired a screen shot of actress Louise Fletcher portraying Ratched in the 1975 film adaptation of the novel. Carlson went on to say, "I'm sorry. That's Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I'm sorry. It must have gotten confused in the files."

Media Matters also identifies others who have made the Clinton-Ratched comparison, including Kathleen Parker, Rush Limbaugh, Eleanor Randolph, Peter Ruehl, The Washington Times, Paul Mulshine, John Podhoretz, Roe Conn and David Hogberg.

Randle P. McMurphy endorses Nurse Ratched. That is, the actor who played McMurphy in the movie One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Jack Nicholson, has endorsed Hillary Clinton, who often has been compared to Nurse Ratched, McMurphy's nemesis in that movie and the original book by Ken Kesey.

During the December 4 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews asked about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY): "So does her attack on him [Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)] for having had ambition as a teeny-bopper -- not a teeny-bopper, a kindergartner, does she look like Nurse Ratched here?"

A Media Matters for America Nexis search found that hosts, including Matthews, and guests of programs on NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC have a long history of associating Clinton with Kesey's fictional character, whom Cliff's Notes describes as a "scheming, manipulative agent" who "asserts arbitrary control simply because she can."

Indeed, during the August 9 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, host Tucker Carlson said, "I think we have a picture, actually, of Hillary Clinton in a nursing outfit we're going to put up on the screen in a second." MSNBC then aired a screen shot of actress Louise Fletcher portraying Ratched in the 1975 film adaptation of the novel. Carlson went on to say, "I'm sorry. That's Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I'm sorry. It must have gotten confused in the files."

Media Matters also identifies others who have made the Clinton-Ratched comparison, including Kathleen Parker, Rush Limbaugh, Eleanor Randolph, Peter Ruehl, The Washington Times, Paul Mulshine, John Podhoretz, Roe Conn and David Hogberg.